BBC RADIO 4 - In our time

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Gerard Manley Hopkins

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Hopkins (1844-89), a Jesuit priest who at times burned his poems and at others insisted they should not be published. His main themes are how he, nature and God relate to each other. His friend Robert Bridges preserved Hopkins' poetry and, once printed in 1918, works such as The Windhover, Pied Beauty and As Kingfishers Catch Fire were celebrated for their inventiveness and he was seen as a major poet, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian age.
With
Catherine Phillips
R J Owens Fellow in English at Downing College, University of Cambridge
Jane Wright
Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol
and
Martin Dubois
Assistant Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature at Durham University
Producer: Simon Tillotson

Authenticity

Melvyn Bragg and guests dicuss what it means to be oneself, a question explored by philosophers from Aristotle to the present day, including St Augustine, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre. In Hamlet, Polonius said 'To thine own self be true', but what is the self, and what does it mean to be true to it, and why should you be true? To Polonius, if you are true to yourself, ‘thou canst not be false to any man’ - but with the rise of the individual, authenticity became a goal in itself, regardless of how that affected others. Is authenticity about creating yourself throughout your life, or fulfilling the potential with which you were born, connecting with your inner child, or something else entirely? What are the risks to society if people value authenticity more than morality - that is, if the two are incompatible?
The image above is of Sartre, aged 8 months, perhaps still connected to his inner child.
With
Sarah Richmond
Associate Professor in Philosophy at University College London
Denis McManus
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton
and
Irene McMullin
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex
Producer: Simon Tillotson

William Cecil

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact on the British Isles of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the most poweful man in the court of Elizabeth I. He was both praised and attacked for his flexibility, adapting to the reigns of Protestant and Catholic monarchs and, under Elizabeth, his goal was to make England strong, stable and secure from attack from its neighbours. He sought control over Ireland and persuaded Elizabeth that Mary Queen of Scots must die, yet often counselled peace rather than war in the interests of prosperity.
With
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford
Susan Doran
Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Oxford
and
John Guy
Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson

Antarah ibn Shaddad

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, works, context and legacy of Antarah (525-608AD), the great poet and warrior. According to legend, he was born a slave; his mother was an Ethiopian slave, his father an elite Arab cavalryman. Antarah won his freedom in battle and loved a woman called Abla who refused him, and they were later celebrated in the saga of Antar and Abla. One of Antarah's poems was so esteemed in pre-Islamic Arabia that it is believed it was hung up on the wall of the Kaaba in Mecca.
With
James Montgomery
Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge
Marlé Hammond
Senior Lecturer in Arabic Popular Literature and Culture at SOAS, University of London
And
Harry Munt
Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of York
Producer: Simon Tillotson

Pheromones

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how members of the same species send each other invisible chemical signals to influence the way they behave. Pheromones are used by species across the animal kingdom in a variety of ways, such as laying trails to be followed, to raise the alarm, to scatter from predators, to signal dominance and to enhance attractiveness and, in honey bees, even direct development into queen or worker.
The image above is of male and female ladybirds that have clustered together in response to pheromones.
With
Tristram Wyatt
Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford
Jane Hurst
William Prescott Professor of Animal Science at the University of Liverpool
and
Francis Ratnieks
Professor of Apiculture and Head of the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex
Producer: Simon Tillotson